Melted

Kill The Romantics

Just when I thought the genre was dead and no more innovation was possible, Danish underground nu-metallers Melted bring out their sophomore record "Kill The Romantics" blowing freshness and originality into the otherwise stale genre. "Kill The Romantics" is the bastard son of Slipknot and koRn dating for years with one party having a constant affair with Stone Sour.

In fact, similarities to even as commercial bands as Staind can be heard on some songs ("Blow Away"), though with remarkably rougher edges and screamed-out-loud support vocals trailing the awesome, 'I don't care about anything'-styled singing, fitting perfectly the smoother passages of the song. The album opener "Me" brings in industrial elements drawing immediate though not obvious comparisons to the likes of Meshuggah or even Trent Reznor's work in Nine Inch Nails, while still overpowering the prior bands by sheer brutality and desperation-filled, emotionally strong screams. The second track "Pick Up" almost crosses the line with the rather annoying, nearly-rapped verse vocals, but the fully blown-out screams in the chorus make up for the dangerous path the band is about to take. Fortunately, the remainder of the tracks redeem the album from short slip, and the great inclusion of clean vocals meet chorus-screams passages bring in catchiness I didn't think was possible on a metal album. Oh wait, did I just commit a sin and call a nu-metal album metal? I stand by my words, because Melted are technically proficient enough to pass as a regular metal act, and far, far heavier and more relevant than, say, koRn, and just the rough vocals will be enough to scare away the younger generation of nu-metal fans, and will appeal to the elitist metalheads out there.

The biggest strenght of "Kill The Romantics" is its versatility. The vocal work varies from growling to screaming to clean singing to soared shouting, and each track is distinct, with the structure and style varying song-by-song. Melted are pushing all the right buttons for a metalcore/hardcore oriented fan like me, and are guaranteed to get much praise from the objective media camp.

Aside from the near-rapped track, the only fault I can find on the album is the cover track of Backstreet Boys' "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". No matter how many screams and how many distorted riffs and industrial effects are included, its pop structure shines through and frankly it sounds even gayer than the original track.

But overall, Melted can be damn proud. They've produced an amazing effort showcasing the world that we haven't heard the last from the nu-metal scene, albeit they're equally metal as well. Alongside the new Stone Sour album, "Kill The Romantics" may just be the best nu-metal album in the last two or three years.